Holiday in San Francisco

This year we spent our 4^th of July holiday in...

...with my parents!

On our first day there--the 4^th--we visited Golden Gate Park where we heard a Veterans' band playing then ate in the Haight-Ashbury district. We drove around the city, even going down Lombard Street: "the crookedest street in the city." I couldn't believe how steep some of those city streets are! By nightfall we were all much too tired to attempt to go see any fireworks and this pregnant lady was feeling sick (still!) so we all went to sleep before the fireworks over the bay. I'm sure they were spectacular.

The next morning we drove out to Modesto where Clark and I met Steve's grandpa B for the first time. 

We had a nice visit with him, as well as Steve's aunt and uncle before swimming in their pool. Clark loved riding down the pool slide with daddy and requested they go on it over and over.

When we got back to San Fran later that day we walked around the piers, saw some barking seals, and watched some street dancers. Clark got a shout out during the show for wearing an Adidas sweatsuit just like the dancers and got the nickname "White Chocolate."

Grandma provided Clark with some good entertainment by making funny faces as we drove around the Bay Area. 

We spent our second morning hiking to the beach. Clark wanted to hike with the grown-ups and went about a mile on his own.

The hiking trail was lined with wild raspberry/some other berry plants, which Grandma decided to sample...

It was a chilly, dreary day at the beach but Clark was enamored with the rocky sand. He spent the whole time picking up handfuls then watching the rocks slip through his fingers.

The geology at this beach was fascinating and beautiful!

Clark went into stare mode on the hike back out and pretty soon he was fast asleep on dad's back.

Later, we had a picnic in a park of gorgeous redwoods.

We saw this beautiful harbor just before we made the biggest culinary mistake of the trip by ordering food from a restaurant called Taste of Toilet Italy. Steve and I are not good vacation diners, but although that meal was disgusting it was certainly memorable and gets me laughing every time.

On our last day we toured Sausalito and took an ice cream break. 

Since we were tourists, we had to walk the Golden Gate bridge. A portion anyway. We were there just in time to see a huge cargo ship sail under the bridge.

View of Alcatraz, and Steve trying to be cool performing some exercises on the side of the road.

We had such a great time! The Bay Area is gorgeous and it was fun to explore. We all went home a little pinker than when we arrived but I guess that means we had fun.

Christmas in July

It's a girl! It'll be a red, green, and pink Christmas for us this year and we're so excited!

Rainy Days

It has certainly been very rainy around here this week, with no end in sight. 

Rain hasn't stopped us from getting out and about, though, since Clark loves to be out in the "wawa" and thinks holding an umbrella is pretty fun. In fact, on this occasion he created quite a scene when I told him it was time to get back into the car (sans umbrella). oh, tantrums. how I love thee.

Water Baby

Clark loves swimming so Steve's been taking him to try out different pools around the city. We visited a pool with the Houston skyline in the background after we were turned away from another one--it was being cleaned after someone had tossed their cookies in the water. Community pools are always interesting. At another pool--at an apartment complex--we tried out water wings and Clark discovered he loves lying on his back in the water. Lounging with dad after swimming is pretty fun too!

Splish Splash

To make it more bearable here during the summer months, the City of Houston maintains several pools and splash pads for its citizens to enjoy. We took Clark to our local splash pad and he loved it. He's not so much into the concept of getting water in his face so he'd run back to Steve and me every couple of minutes for a quick dry off. Steve thought goggles might remedy the situation but Clark took them off due to their high nerd factor. The bigger kids loved to shepherd little Clark around and showed him the best places to enjoy the water. We'll be back here for sure.